Tension at the Edge of Alaska

By JAD MOUAWAD

Published: December 4, 2007

Each summer and fall, the Inupiat, natives of Alaska's arid north coast, take their sealskin boats and gun-fired harpoons and go whale hunting. Kills are celebrated throughout villages as whaling captains share their catch with relatives and neighbors. Muktuk, or raw whale skin and blubber, is a prized delicacy.

But now, that traditional way of life is coming into conflict with one of the modern world's most urgent priorities: finding more oil.

Royal Dutch Shell is determined to exploit vast reserves believed to lie off Alaska's coast. The Bush administration backs the idea and has issued offshore leases in recent years totaling an area nearly the size of Maryland.

Those leases have received far less attention than failed efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but they may prove to be far more important. By some estimates, the oil under the Alaskan seabed could exceed the reserves remaining in the rest of the United States, though how much might ultimately be recoverable is uncertain.

Shell is eager to find out. It tried to make headway this summer, only to be stopped by an unusual alliance of Inupiat whalers and environmental groups who filed a suit in federal court.

They argue that noisy drilling off the Alaska coast could disrupt migration routes for the bowhead whales, making it impossible for the Inupiat to capture their allotted share of about 60 animals per year. A court hearing is scheduled for today to consider whether the company can move forward, though a ruling is not expected for months.

Native communities are not unalterably opposed to oil production -- on the contrary, many rely on oil for their livelihoods. The North Slope Borough, a countylike governmental unit the size of Minnesota where most of Alaska's 10,000 Inupiat live, gets the bulk of its $98 million budget each year from taxing onshore oil operations.

Native corporations also derive a large part of their business from serving the oil industry in Prudhoe Bay. Community leaders are caught between a desire to preserve traditional whaling and the economic necessity of permitting the oil industry to move into new areas.

''It's a hell of a dilemma,'' said Edward S. Itta, the mayor of the North Slope Borough, who is opposed to Shell's drilling plans. ''Without a doubt, America's energy needs are way up, and something's going to happen up there. It's a way of life against an opposing value. This way of life has value; nobody can put it in dollars and cents.''

The oil resources off Alaska's coast amount to some 27 billion barrels, according to government estimates, about the same as the original reserves of the giant Prudhoe Bay field discovered in 1968. That would be enough to satisfy America's total oil consumption for three years if every last drop could be pumped, which is unlikely.

It is a tantalizing bonanza for the Bush administration, which has strongly backed exploration to make up for a decline in domestic oil production; for oil companies, which are scouring the world to find new supplies; and for Alaskan authorities, who need to keep the trans-Alaska pipeline flowing.

Returning to the Sea

Oil off Alaska's coast is hardly a new discovery. Soon after petroleum was found under the North Slope 40 years ago, companies began to suspect there might be oil under the Beaufort Sea and beyond.

Shell was one of the early pioneers of Arctic exploration in the following decades but it abandoned the region along with other companies after the oil price collapse of the mid-1980s. Five years ago, as the company sought new places to drill, Shell geologists dusted off their old seismic surveys. They identified a spot called Hammerhead, where the company had first drilled in 1985. They renamed it Sivulliq, meaning ''the first one'' in Inupiat, and decided to drill there. The area, about 15 miles offshore in 110 feet of water, is just opposite the western coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Shell moved aggressively to secure offshore holdings after 2005. The company paid about $80 million for leases in the Beaufort Sea, outspending its competitors.

''If you look at the Arctic, this is an incredibly important energy resource for the United States,'' said Marvin Odum, Shell's executive vice president for the Americas. ''Going in with paced development is the right way to go.''

Mr. Odum says Shell is respectful of native rights and can safely drill in the Beaufort Sea without disturbing whales or whalers. The company offered to shut drilling operations during the whaling season and said it would monitor migration routes with the latest equipment, including unmanned aerial drones.

In February, Shell obtained its drilling permit from the Minerals Management Service, a government agency in charge of overseeing oil and gas production in federal waters. That allowed it to bring in a small armada of ships and emergency craft to prepare for the drilling season, which lasts 90 to 120 days in the summer, when the Beaufort Sea is largely free of ice.